Possessive Adjectives in Spanish: Learn Mi, Tu, Su & More with Chunking!

Hello dear ones!

Welcome back to Spring Spanish, where you learn Spanish with chunks, also known as the easiest way of all! I’m Paulísima, your Spanish teacher, and today we’ll dive into possessive adjectives in Spanish, as well as pronouns.

By the end of this lesson, you’ll not only understand them, but you’ll also use them like an expert. Are you ready? Let’s begin!

1. What are possessive adjectives in Spanish?

Before we get into the details, let’s understand the concept of possessive determiners.

These words indicate ownership or possession, telling us to whom something belongs. They are words like “my”, “mine”, “your”, “yours” in English.

They are divided into two categories:

1. Those that precede the noun, also known as possessive adjectives, are unstressed, meaning they don’t have an accent, and are placed before the noun.
2. Those that are placed in other positions, also called possessive pronouns, are stressed and are placed after the main verb.

Don’t worry, we’ll explore each type with plenty of examples.

2. Possessive adjectives in Spanish (unstressed)

These are placed before the noun they modify. They are equivalent to possessives in English like “my” (mi), “your” (tu/su), “his” (su), “her” (su), “its” (su).

• Mi nombre es Paulísima. (My name is Paulisima.)
• Tu canal favorito es Spring Spanish. (Your favorite channel is Spring Spanish.)
• En Spring Spanish nuestras lecciones están basadas en chunks*.* (At Spring Spanish our lessons are based on chunks.)

This is a chunk that Mexicans use all the time. Chunks are expressions or word combinations that native speakers use constantly. You can get a copy of our Free Essential Spanish Chunking Kit in the link in the description.

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• Esta es mi computadora. (This is my computer.)
• Esas son mis plantas. (Those are my plants.)
• Soy Paulísima, tu maestra de español de Spring Spanish. (I’m Paulisima, your Spanish teacher from Spring Spanish.)
• Somos tus maestras de español. (We are your Spanish teachers.)

Guys, if you haven’t subscribed to the Spring Spanish channel yet, this is the right time to do it. Do it. It’s for your own good.

• Ella es Amanda. Esta es su casa. Estas son sus flores. (She is Amanda. This is her house. These are her flowers.)
• Él es Samuel. Este es su cuaderno. Estos son sus libros. (He is Samuel. This is his notebook. These are his books.)
• Esto es el Inner Circle de Spring Spanish, nuestro espacio para aprender español en privado. Es nuestra comunidad. (This is the Inner Circle of Spring Spanish, our space to learn Spanish in private. It’s our community.)
• Les agradezco a ustedes por su tiempo y por sus comentarios. (I thank you for your time and your comments.)
• Ellos son mis seres más queridos, sin su apoyo y sus palabras de apoyo, yo no sería nada. (They are my most beloved people, without their support and their words of encouragement, I wouldn’t be anything.)

Let’s take a look at all of what we’ve learned so far in a real conversation:

Actor 1
No encuentro mi cel.
(I can’t find my cellphone.)

Actor 2
Está encima de mis libros.
(It’s on top of my books.)

Actor 1
Ah, ya. Pensé que era el teléfono de mi mamá. Es que su celular se parece al mío.
(Oh, ok. I thought that was my mom’s phone. It’s just that her cellphone looks like mine.)

Actor 2
Cierto. Sus protectores son iguales, los dos color lila. Muy bonitos, por cierto.
(True. Your protectors are the same, they’re both lilac color. Very pretty, by the way.)

Actor 1
¡Claro! Nuestras cosas siempre son hermosas. Es que nuestro gusto es impecable.
(Of course! Our things are always beautiful. Is just that our taste is impeccable.)

3. Table for possessive adjectives in Spanish

For those who want to see things organized in one place, here is the table:

4. Possessive pronouns in Spanish (stressed)

These, unlike the previous ones, do not go before a noun.

Pay attention, the forms nuestros, nuestras, nuestro, nuestra, can be both adjectives and pronouns. That is, they can be used in both ways.

Possessive pronouns appear in another part of the sentence. These pronouns replace nouns and are used to express to whom something belongs. They are equivalent to possessives in English like “mine”, “yours”, “his”, etc.

Esta taza es mía. Este bolígrafo es mío. Este canal es tuyo. Estos comentarios son suyos… etcétera… let’s see more.

In a real dialogue:

Actor 1
Tengo un desastre con mis cosas. Muchas cosas ni siquiera son mías. Por ejemplo, ¿este lápiz es mío?
(My things are a disaster. A lot of things aren’t even mine. For example, is this pencil mine?)

Actor 2
Sí, es tuyo.
(Yes, it’s yours.)

Actor 1
¿Y esta pluma? ¿Es mía? ¿O tuya?
(And this pen? Is it mine? Or yours?)

Actor 2
A ver, es tuya. Pero este estuche no es tuyo, es mío. Y también esta engrapadora, es mía.
(Let’s see, it’s yours. But this case is not yours, it’s mine. And also this stapler, it’s mine.)

Actor 1
Ok, entonces el estuche es tuyo, y la engrapadora también es tuya.
(Ok, so the case is yours, and the stapler is also yours.)

Pay attention to gender and number agreement!

Actor 1
¿Y estos plumones? ¿Son tuyos?
(What about these markers? Are they yours?)

Actor 2
De hecho, estos plumones son nuestros. ¿Te acuerdas que pusimos la mitad y la mitad para comprarlos?
(Actually, these markers are ours. Do you remember that we pitched in half-and-half to buy them?)

Actor 1
Sí, ya me acordé. Los compramos en Calle Mesones. Entonces, también estas estampitas son nuestras. Las compramos el mismo día. Agarra de una vez la mitad.
(Yes, now I remember. We bought them at Mesones street. Then, these stickers are also ours. We bought them the same day. Grab half of them now.)

Actor 2
A ver estos marcadores permanentes. ¿Se parecen a los de mamá, no?
(Let’s see these permanent markers. They look like mom’s, right?)

Actor 1
Sí, son suyos. También las tijeras son suyas.
(Yes, they are hers. The scissors are also hers.)

Actor 2
¿Y estos pinceles? ¿También son de mamá, verdad?
(What about these brushes? They’re mom’s too, right?)

Actor 1
¡No! No son suyos. De hecho, son de mis hermanos.
(No! They’re not hers. Actually, they belong to my siblings.)

Actor 2
¿En serio son suyos?
(Are they really theirs?)

Actor 1
En serio, son suyos. Te los prestaron hace unos meses.
(Really, they are theirs. They lend them to you a few months ago.)

5. Table for Spanish possessive pronouns

If you want to see them organized in a table, here you have it:

Now, if you want to continue learning about grammatical topics, check out the next lesson, where I’ll teach you everything you need to know about personal pronouns in Spanish.